By Daanyaal Matthews
Bangladesh has been embroiled in unrest following the government’s initial decision to introduce a quote system for employment that would disproportionately benefit previous freedom fighters and their families. The protests, which have been raging for weeks, have culminated in Sheikh Hasina Wazed resigning from her position as Prime Minister of the Peoples Republic of Bangladesh and fleeing the country to India. This has led to the military wing of Bangladesh ceasing power in the South Asian state with Army Chief General, Waker-Us-Zaman, imploring the Bangladeshi people to trust in the army and that an interim government would form.
Sheikh Hasina Wazed has been criticized since the protests began, with protestors alleging that the 250 people dead were related to the violent response from the government to the protests, with allegations of students being taken from their homes never to be seen again. For Zakaria Polash, a political analyst based in Dakar, these allegations are true. Further to this, Polash stated the government of Bangladesh was acting autocratic in response to the critique of the public.
“The basic fact is it is unapologetically we can say that the government was very much functioning like an autocratic government, like an undemocratic instrument, and that is why they feel any movement was sort of a threat for them.”
This threat that the protesters seemingly posed to the regime led to government officials, including Sheikh Hasina, painting protestors as agitators and traitors, utilizing the term ‘razakars’ which historically referred to individuals that aligned with Pakistan during the Bangladesh Liberation War, which was questioned by international civil organizations. Polash argued that the ‘threat’ perceived by the Government of Bangladesh led to unheard of circumstances, especially in attacking universities, which were previously seen as almost autonomous zones exempt from government interference.
“In Bangladesh, universities are somehow known as autonomous areas where the security authorities can’t go inside because those are areas where students and teachers have their own community. But, breaking all these norms, the security forces entered the campuses, and the government has deployed their own forces in the university administrations. So those administrations helped the security forces to enter the campuses and support them to crack down on the student protests inside the campuses,” concluded Polash.
Photo: Wikimedia Group
